On September 21, a bus carrying the Farmingdale (Long Island, New York) High School marching band to band camp in Pennsylvania crashed through a guard rail and plummeted down a 50-foot ravine, killing the band director and a retired teacher chaperoning the group. Many in the community thought the marching band would not perform this season, given the tragic circumstances.
But perform they did, to the great pleasure of thousands who turned out for the homecoming football game. The musicians thought it was a way to honor the memory of their lost leader.
FARMINGDALE, NY — Thunderous cheers and applause. Tears. Pride. Hugs. Hope. All of that was in abundance as a sea of Dalers green, black and white descended upon Farmingdale High School for the school’s homecoming on Friday night.
Of the thousands surrounding the perimeter of the football field, many of them were there to celebrate the marching band’s return to the field, just two weeks after the horrific bus crash that claimed the lives of two educators: Gina Pellettiere, 43, of Massapequa, and Beatrice “Bea” Ferrari, 77, of Farmingdale. The bus overturned in Orange County on Sept. 21 as it was transporting the marching band to its annual band camp in Greeley, Pennsylvania.
For the first time in more than a decade, the Daler Marching Band performed without the guiding baton of Pellettiere — or “Ms. P,” as her students affectionately knew her. But while Pellettiere was not physically on the field during the pre-game and halftime performances, her students knew she was there in spirit.
“This is definitely what she would’ve wanted,” Philip Sullivan, a senior trumpet player in the Farmingdale marching band, told Patch. “I know she’s looking down on us right now, happy that we’re back performing, carrying on her legacy.”
The band first took the field before the opening kick-off between the Farmingdale Dalers and Baldwin Bruins. It performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” in front of an emotional crowd, followed by the school’s fight song.
By the way, the home team won, 42-0.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Off topic of course but some absolutely horrific stuff happening in Israel today. Wish I could unsee some of it.
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“Some absolutely horrific stuff has been happening in Israel” Committed by both sides for quite some time.
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Maybe wait a couple days before both sides-ing it.
https://x.com/kareemfarid/status/1710600952686739486?s=46&t=vV_4bJ7GuABaalzetJofQA
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FLERP!
As of August over 200 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the year a good number of them civilians not involved in violence. As well as 30 Israelis.
It is hard to portray this as one sided. It is a shame that the ultra orthodox feeding the settler movement, apartheid and the theft of Palestinian land will not be on the front lines.
The Palestinians will pay a terrible price for this attack they always do. With far more Civilians then Hamas Militants paying the price. It is certainly both sides.
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-FLERP!
” At least 38 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank so far in 2023, making it the deadliest year since records began”, said Save the Children 9/18/23
Netanyahu is back ! And sadly this will consolidate his support.
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Joel,
Bibi N. may get some political respite from the disaster but he will be held responsible for the worst intelligence and security failure in the history of Israel. He was focused on neutering the judiciary and forget his duty to protect the nation’s security. His legacy will be that of an divisive extremist who oversaw a disaster.
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In that same spirit, the NYC DSA will be rallying tomorrow to support Palestinian resistance. Timing is everything.
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In case you’d like to join:
https://x.com/nycdsa/status/1710778425303081288?s=46&t=vV_4bJ7GuABaalzetJofQA
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FLERP,
I don’t like Netanyahu. I favor a two-state solution. I want peace between Israel and the Palestinians. But I oppose terrorism. It drives parties farther apart.
Read Tom Friedman today. He says that Biden was negotiating a normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which would have been historic. Iran (enemy of the Saudis) wanted to torpedo the deal. It encouraged Hamas to remain death on Israel. Friedman also criticized both Netanyahu and Hamas. He said that Hamas runs the Gaza Strip and has received $1 billion plus from Qatar. Instead of using that money to build a functioning model of a state that delivers services like education, Hamas has concentrated only on violence.
There are both at fault. And I will never justify or excuse terrorism.
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FLERP!
Not the same thing at all. Two things can be true at the same time. There is blood on the hands of both sides. Both sides are governed by (or cater to) intolerant religious zealots with little concern for human rights, who have called for the annihilation of the other. I suspect that a week from now when the Israelis flatten Gaza like they did to Beirut in 2006 and the Palestinian deaths number in the thousands or even10s of thousands ,your reaction will not be quite so “visceral”.
As for DSA you live nearby. Let us know if there are not more members of the press covering the rally than the few dozen protestors who show up . Or if any of the elected officials affiliated with the group show up.
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If I read that Israelis are intentionally killing hundreds of civilians, kidnapping civilians to use as human shields, breaking the legs of young women and celebrating while they cart them around town dead and naked and malformed in grotesque positions, I will indeed have a visceral reaction.
I will stop by the protest today. I hope the depth of DSA support is as thin as I have always imagined. From what I read, the organization is collapsing. If so, not a second too soon.
https://reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/s/pWbDWYF04A
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Pretty big turnout actually.
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FLERP!
Tough to tell if there are not as many counter protestors as there are protestors. But 300 Pro Palestinian protestors as the Times reported is not a large demonstration . And of course AOC and Bowman neither of whom attended nor endorsed the rally get hit for saying .
“I condemn Hamas’ attack in the strongest possible terms,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement. “No child and family should ever endure this kind of violence and fear, and this violence will not solve the ongoing oppression and occupation in the region. An immediate ceasefire and de-escalation is urgently needed to save lives.”
Perhaps she should say ‘ to hell with the Hostages Hamas took. Level Gaza inflicting so high a price that Hamas will wait another 20 years before doing this again.’ As happened with Hezbollah in Beirut in 2006.
I predict that is exactly what is going to happen. You are correct Western Nations sterilize war. They don’t drag naked women and children through the streets (often) . They neutralize the enemy threat by turning cities to dust. The civilians are just collateral damage. And a message sent.
You might be surprised that I agree with much of what you have said. That does not change the reality in the region.
“Religion is the Fentanyl of the masses”
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Joel, I think the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is complicated and has no easy–and frankly no difficult–fixes. The whole thing is tragic, in the classical sense. And I acknowledge there is clearly a massive structural power imbalance between Israel and the Palestinian territories. To that I say, thank God there is, because it makes me ill to contemplate what would happen if Hamas, a psychopathic, theo-fascist, genocidal organization, were on equal footing with Israel. And when, in response to news about deliberate, tactical mass assaults on civilians, including murder, rape, and torture, someone’s first instinct is to say “both sides,” it makes me even more ill. At least wait a couple days for God’s sake.
That goes double for the DSA.
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Glad to see at least one national Democratic politician (Richie Torres) calling out the DSA for this.
https://x.com/ritchietorres/status/1711169356455973121?s=46&t=vV_4bJ7GuABaalzetJofQA
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FLERP, what’s happening in Israel represents a massive intelligence failure. Netanyahu should be held accountable. He spent his energy trying to neuter the judiciary and forget about national security.
One of my four grandsons is in Israel, and I am keeping close watch.
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Perhaps so, I don’t know. I’m just having a visceral reaction to the images of victims of kidnapping, rape, and murder being carted around amid public celebration.
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